From the Journals of Dr Robotnik
by Gigazubyte
Summary: An introduction to my ambitious retelling of Sonic via excerpts from Robotnik's Journals. What does a would be tyrant do between designing weapons of ultimate destruction and plotting world takeover?


Author's Note:

Hi, this is essentially the introduction to the world of Ultimate Sonic. As the title might suggest, it's a retelling of Sonic inspired by the Ultimate retellings of the normal Marvel universe. The journals are basically a way to introduce the plot and give a bit of a glimpse into the world and the life of the primary antagonist, Dr. Robotnik. The journals are not required to understand the plot, but they do help, and you're likely to find a lot of hints as to where the story will go and nods to the various Sonic canons scattered throughout. They progress roughly in reverse order to the main plot, meaning that the last entries are most relevant to where the story begins, so you might want to start at the bottom if that's what you're interested in, and feel free to skip around.

From the Journals of Doctor Robotnik:

January 9:

Established a facility in the southern archipelago this month, in the western group of islands. Broke ground yesterday, expect to reach 70 functionality on a one month timetable. Ideally, I plan to establish a second and possibly third facility on the southern group of islands, for the following reasons. Abnormal amounts of chaos energy present in these islands, suggests presence of at least one active chaos emerald, most likely several. So called "Magic" or "Power" rings also present in quantity. Seem to be related to the emeralds. They've been appearing in my labs following experiments in which the emeralds are activated. Seem to appear in highest frequency nearer to emeralds location, more erratic dispersion further out. Only discernible pattern to appearance so far. Is there a link between ambient energy and genetic adaptation? It's possible, certainly. It bears researching at the very least. Even if no conclusive link is shown in significant portion of the locals, I may find certain useful traits in individual subjects. It seems as good a place to begin as any and far better than most. With Project Shadow still buried behind years of red tape and classified information, I need to find a suitable genetic base to begin my attempt to replicate grandfathers success and continue his research into immortality. I'd like to improve upon his work in that field very much. Furthermore, satellite imaging shows one of the islands… moving. Drifts at least a few miles during the course of the year in no detectable pattern, save that the drift seems centered around a fixed point. Grandfather's Journal mentions legends of a "traveling Island" briefly, purportedly the last remnant of an ancient civilization that mysteriously vanished in a vague cataclysm some several thousand years ago. The ruins common to both groups of islands makes a convincing argument that there was something here, though hardly the civilization described in legend, but the claim that a vanished empire once spanned the ocean separating the two clusters of islands is most unlikely, unnaturally empty as that span of water seems.

Overall, western islands certainly of interest, but aside from a greater concentration of ruins they are the less valuable of the two. Ambient Chaos energy is more prevalent in southern islands, as are the rings, suggesting higher emerald yield. Locals there may prove a problem, but they are my main interest here anyway, in addition to the acquisition of further emeralds. For the most part, the facility on the western island will serve my needs in this area, but establishing a second one on the southern group would be ideal, particularly if it's on the moving island. A closer base reduces the associated hassles of transporting materials to and from the research sites and allows for keeping a tighter watch on the locals. The primary base on the western isles will serve for construction and as a foothold for establishing the secondary base for research.

January 14:

The market for chao and related products is booming right now. I understand that they're holding breeding competitions and races now, as well as illegal fights. I need to invest more heavily in this market, as there seems to be a huge demand for chao that excel in either looks or physical competition, as well as products to help them in these areas. Buy stock or outright purchase shops that cater to this market and look into specifically breeding high quality chao for the market.

January 18:

The S.D.E is pestering me about my policies on laws regarding dokan rights again. Don't those fools know that a significant percentage of my employees are dokan? You'd think the charitable donations would get them off my back, but they seem to be aware my political puppets spend a good deal of their time stymying bills proposed by these idiots and others like them. Bah, I need another dokan friendly publicity stunt of some sort. Of course, doing that will irritate the faction who wants to expel them from the workforce. It's true, they are better at most manual labor, and their sports stars are banned from the human leagues for a reason. But that's why I employ them. Dokan Extreme Gear races are more popular because the riders go faster and employ more dangerous tactics, same for most other sports, which is why they sell better, which is why I put more money into the dokan leagues.

January 29:

As anticipated, the construction of my facilities has met with strong opposition from the indigenous populace, particularly the third installation, as it's closest to their territory. They don't seem to care too much about the other two, but have voiced strong objections against that one. However, object though they may, they are hesitant to resort to violence as long as my presence does not pose a clear and direct danger to them, for fear of inciting violent retaliation. They will tolerate my presence. Not that they have a choice. I can bend them to my will by force if necessary. It would be more convenient for my plans in both the short and long term to get them to cooperate of their own free will, but I can manage either way. Still, better to play good neighbor for a few months while I get everything prepared. On a side note, closer inspection of the ruins on the moving island has revealed that while they date to the same period as the other ruins, they were not constructed by the same civilization. Curious. I have to wonder how this island got here, because the more I investigate it, the more it appears it was uprooted from some other part of the ancient world and dumped in the middle of this archipelago. This mystery will have to wait until another day to be solved, however.

February 17:

That idiot Nykan is requesting more equipment, claims the dokan under the Acorn family are putting up heavier resistance than anticipated. He may style himself a general, but like his predecessors he lacks the tactical expertise to merit the title. Otherwise I'd be receiving victory reports rather than excuses and supply requisitions. Yes, despite their stature Dokan outclass humans in most physical aspects, but that should be trivial in light of their reliance on primitive weaponry and strategy. I'm getting tired of blocking legislation that would make this conflict illegal while I wait for these buffoons to resolve it. Even working through indirect channels, it's bad for public relations to look like I support this kind of thing. Still, better give the fool what he asks for. Remember to make sure any robotics are unlabeled and of generic brand, or better yet, labeled Morgan Corp.

February 26:

My emerald tracking equipment needs to be improved. Operating on a primitive Hot/Cold reaction is far too inefficient. A month has passed and I only have a rough idea where three emeralds are, and they seem to all be some distance underground. If only I understood better how these miracle gems function. Not even grandfather's notes offer so much as a clue to their origin. How to make a machine that can utilize their power without exploding, yes, but little more about the gems themselves than can be observed in basic experiments. As noted previously, rings seem to cluster around them, but too erratically to be any use.

March 3:

My expedition has successfully recovered its first emerald, and I am closing in on two more. I found it in what appeared to be a collapsed underground chamber, on a mechanical alter of sorts. Damage to the machinery has made it impossible to tell what it was originally intended for, assuming that it was indeed some sort of machine and not merely an elaborate metal ornamentation of what amounts to a religious shrine. Some ancient cultures had emerald powered technology, we know that much, although most of the examples are lost to history or distorted in myth. Although more investigation is required, I now suspect this island belonged to one of these cultures. While a single emerald does not completely justify the expense of building and maintaining two bases, it goes a long way toward it, and if I get the rest of what I am expecting out of this expedition it will prove very profitable indeed.

March 9:

Lost the lawsuit over Extreme Gear injuries. It seems the courts have forgotten just how much of their paychecks come from me through one channel or another. I'll have to remind them, or see about finding blackmail for those who refuse to be bribed. In any event, the home Extreme Gear line, while certainly profitable, is nowhere near as valuable to me as the commercial line. Speaking of which, I need to check on the construction of the new stadium and make sure everything's running on schedule. The seating is done, but the track itself still needs work.

March 17:

Today I found the second emerald. Like the first one, it was located in a collapsed underground chamber. Although time, erosion and the shifting of rubble, not to mention the damage caused by my own excavation, have made it difficult to be sure, I believe there was once a stairwell that led to the surface. The machine in this chamber was more intact, though still damaged. I am convinced now that it is a machine and not merely decoration, although its purpose still eludes me. Hmm… this is rank conjecture at best, but the evidence indicates this island was not originally part of the archipelago, so could it have been mobile at some point in the past? The machinery clearly shares a similar design with the samples that led to grandfather's breakthroughs in emerald compatible machinery, but it appears to predate the Babylonian technology. That being said, it seems designed to handle much larger amounts of energy, which makes sense. The technology grandfather had access to was meant for the smaller, artificial power cores. More importantly though, I see strong design similarities between this machine and the hover component in Father's Extreme Gears, which is what leads me to wonder if this island wasn't mobile at some point. Legends are rife with mentions of flying islands, and at least one of these is known to still be operating, but there were supposedly several at one point. That's hard to prove though, as written records only replaced oral tradition recently in much of dokan culture, and what written records we do have from previous eras are fragmented and almost certainly exaggerated. Frustratingly, the satellites aren't able to get a clear image of the one flying island known to exist, and only a few of the probes I've sent have come back, none with particularly useful or illuminating data. I think some sort of dokan is destroying them. Several of the destroyed probes have sent back images of a red furred something or other shortly before the signal was lost. The pictures have all been fuzzy and none of them have managed to get the entire thing in the frame, but from what I can tell it appears to be approximately the size of a hedgehog. Perhaps I'll organize an expedition to visit it in person when I'm done here. In any event, while I would like to find some more examples of this technology, experience dictates the vast majority of it will long since have been reclaimed by nature or stripped away by looters. Really, as old as these ruins are, and in a tropical environment, I'm lucky I can still tell it's anything more than a normal island.

April 2:

Profits are down this quarter, due mainly to the recession, but also because of the malfunctioning assembly plant that led to defective shipments. Might be industrial sabotage, but I suspect simple incompetence on the part of the maintenance crew. The incident was too isolated and too inconsequential to be sabotage, or if it was it was extremely sloppy. A single unit at a single plant doesn't amount to anything. Most likely the maintenance simply didn't notice it was defective when it arrived or they didn't maintain it properly. Still, I've ordered inspections in all the other plants just to be on the safe side. As for the recession, that's due to the temporary moratorium on the arms race. Of course, that won't last long, either with the small arms production that makes up so much of my sales or with G.U.N.'s new "Commission". They know as well as I do that this cold war is good for the economy; even if they are afraid it will spiral out of control they can't afford to end it entirely. It's a dangerous game they play, and they know it, but then, no peril, no profit. Of course, I win no matter what the outcome. Speaking of the "commission", I'm still not sure how to go about it. I sold them on the general idea of a flying fortress, but making something on that scale is going to take some thought. I could run a network of linked hover units, but that has several associated problems. The units only go up to a certain size before they start becoming unstable, so it would require several dozen units running in tandem at all times. The units and the requisite adjusters, monitors and controls would take up a great deal of space. Maintaining even power distribution would be challenging at best, and the machines would have to be monitored constantly to make sure all were functioning properly. Even with redundant failsafe units in reserve, the network would still be vulnerable to skewed distribution, and they would add to the space problem. Hmm, perhaps a visit to this floating island is in order. If the ancients could make an island fly, surely I can as well.

April 4:

Nykan is requesting more equipment again, as usual, but this time he comes with good news. He's captured their main holdout in Castle Acorn, and broken the resistance. The remaining Dokan have fallen back to the caves in the area. I understand there's an extensive limestone complex that undercuts much of the surrounding countryside, so it could take years to flush them all out. Meanwhile they've started staging guerilla raids. Incidentally, he reports shooting down a strange craft a few days back, which he shipped to me for inspection. The crew was apparently a group of dokan who escaped and joined the resistance, but it's the craft that intrigues me more than a few extra guerillas. It's approximately equivalent to a flying van, but while it resembles some of the special class aircraft Morgan Corp. and I produce, namely the air limos and the infiltrator class mini drop ships, it's not a make I recognize, nor has a brief search revealed any product I can positively identify it as in any company's inventory, current or out of business. Of course, it was badly damaged, but I'm fairly certain it doesn't belong to any of my competitors and it certainly isn't one of mine. It's possible that my list is incomplete, that it's a prototype or that I simply overlooked something. My guess is that it came from somewhere else though, because any dokan rich enough to afford multiperson flying transport would be reported missing by now. Rich dokan are rarer than rich humans, and are usually sports stars, who would be flying an endorsed, recognizable brand named craft anyway. I suppose they could be government operatives, but there most likely would have been a subsequent extraction team and a crackdown on Nykan's questionably legal war were that the case. Hmm, puzzling.

April 6:

Slow progress on tracking the other emeralds in the area. I've decided to forgo my projects here temporarily to arrange a visit to the floating island. Perhaps a break from the monotony will give me the inspiration I need to crack one or more of the puzzles that have been troubling me lately. Before I visit, I'm going to send several more probes. I don't particularly expect them to fare better than the previous ones, and they're expensive to just throw away, but I want to know more about this mysterious red figure before I set foot there myself.

April 9:

As I expected, most of the probes were destroyed, but I finally got a clear picture of the one responsible. And I have no idea what it is. I ran a search and it doesn't match the description of any dokan species I have on record in the biological species database. It bears a slight, superficial resemblance to porcupines and hedgehogs, in that it is roughly the same size and also possesses head spines (this particular variety looks very much like dreadlocks), but that's the only match the computer could find. It appears to be a species heretofore unknown to man. Hmm… let me try the full database. Perhaps it's an entry that wasn't filed under the biological database due to lack of confirmation. One… two… three matches, all from Grandfather's research files. Curious. Subject appears to match description of an echidna. Matches the crude depiction in a rubbing grandfather took of some carvings on a ruin as well. Species was thought to be either wholly mythological or at least extinct, but was connected to the legends of the floating islands and the vanishing civilization, as well as a story about a giant water dragon that apparently wiped out the last remnants of the species some thousand years or so in the past. So, I'm dealing with a nearly extinct, practically mythical species here. But is it one echidna or several? Photo relays are inconclusive. It seems to be the same subject in every one but it could be multiple subjects with very similar markings. Either way, I need to handle this very delicately. Who knows what valuable secrets they/it could be hiding? I need some way to communicate with them/it. They/it seems intent on destroying my probes, so I'm hesitant to go in person yet. Perhaps if I send something a bit more humanoid, with a recorded message… Better yet, I'll equip a squad of Robos with two-way communication devices and deliver the message that way.

April 10:

The echidna tore through my first few Robo emissaries in a matter of seconds. While the loss of valuable technology is frustrating, it was all outweighed by the fact that I made successful contact. Although the echidna, Knuckles, as he calls himself, still seems suspicious, I convinced him to let me visit the island to research its history. He was vague and reluctant to answer my questions, but he seems to be the only one, and unclear on what happened to the others. A pity, I would like to observe this legendary species. If he is a typical example, they would have proved the perfect basis for my super soldier program. Such incredible strength. I have to get a DNA sample, but that shouldn't be hard.

April 12:

Although Knuckles won't tell me how the island stays aloft, I think he knows. I believe he is keeping the technology secret. Understandable, if it's powered by one or more chaos emeralds, but at the moment I'm more interested in the technology itself, not to say that chaos emeralds aren't valuable. In any event, he seems to know little more than I do of the island's history. I'll have to keep a close eye on him, I believe he's hiding a good deal more than just the levitation tech. A civilization advanced enough to make the water treatment plant in the bowels of the island and the mechanical structures above it would have had weapons and any number of other powerful machines. I suspect there's also a climate control device somewhere on the island. That would explain how it maintains a relatively constant, semitropical atmosphere even at high altitudes. I also suspect there's some kind of field obfuscating the island from satellite. Whether it's a natural product of the other devices on the island or controlled by a seperate machine, I can't say.

April 16:

My crew has discovered a third emerald in the south islands. Far more importantly however, it was attached to a much more intact machine. After dissecting it for the past few hours, I think I understand how it works. It's just a matter of directing the power to the right place. I'll have to run a few tests to make sure it works, but this could be a major breakthrough.

April 19:

Have been working on the engine for days with little sleep, but yes, it works! Still a little unstable, but I managed to levitate one of my private jumbo aircraft without any sort of auxiliary power supplementing it, and without taxing the system whatsoever. The difficulty is getting it to stabilize on a vertical plane and move laterally at the same time, but with a little more tweaking enormous, fuel independent craft are entirely within my reach. The biggest question is whether I can use synthetic chaos crystals running in tandem as opposed to true emeralds, which are simply too rare to all be tied up in gigantic flying machines. I suspect I can, at the cost of efficiency and stability, but even with the extra compensations I'll have to make for such an engine to be viable, a somewhat reduced efficiency super craft will be leagues beyond anything Morgan Corp produces, not that I'll have the technology for much more than a year before they manage to get their hands on the plans and reverse engineer their own line. But oh, what this means for G.U.N.s "commission". Whatever size they expect, it'll be larger, far larger. Of course, that will surely garner protests that they were expecting something a little more modest in scale and don't intend to pay for something so bulky, and then I'll reveal the price. It's going to be expensive, but nowhere near what they'll expect, because they'll be expecting something scaled and priced to today's technical limitations. They wanted intimidating, and I'll deliver. I intend to take this new technology to its maximum potential and show off just what Kintobor Industries is really capable of. They'll have no choice but to accept my subsequent technical proposals.

April 20:

Began construction of Codename: Death Egg at the facility on the western isle. It's going to take a couple of months at least to complete, mainly due to the size. I can create or modify existing engines for it in a week or two, but the frame alone requires a lot of metal. It would be easier to construct nearer to my foundries, so I don't have to ship all this material out here, but I want to keep it secret. Not to say Morgan and my other competitors won't know I'm doing something out here, but I want to keep them guessing as to what. I'll leave most of the non-essential space not used for engines or the control bridge empty for flexible design choices. G.U.N. can specify what they want where once the essential components are finished. Decided to go with spherical construction to evoke the intimidation of the familiar popular culture image, hence the codename. Always reminded me of a giant mechanical egg. Not the most efficient shape, but more so than many others.

April 25:

Making little to no progress on Angel Island, as Knuckles calls it. Found a few technological odds and ends, but nothing worth mentioning, and certainly nothing that could lead to valuable breakthroughs like the new Atlas Class engines. Did manage to collect some hair samples, but still he's keeping most of the significant things from me. Meanwhile, the new Extreme Gear track has been completed. Managed to get the Rogues to accept the Kintobor Industries sponsorship. Their leader is insufferably arrogant, but he's very talented. I've never seen anyone complete an Extreme Gear race so quickly. His reflexes are quite impressive, and he's walked away from a couple of crashes that should have put him in the hospital. Possible genetic base for super soldier? Maybe.

May 2:

I've decided to move ahead with the study in the south islands. Angel Island isn't yielding anything worthwhile. I'll still maintain a presence there, of course, there are too many valuable discoveries hidden there, I'm sure, and I never throw away anything that may potentially prove useful in the future when it can be maintained without significant cost to that which I have at present. I'm sure it will yield discoveries to reward my patience, but I don't have to let other projects sit idle while this one goes nowhere for the present.

May 7:

Facilities are in order for testing subjects, but now the question is, how to get them to agree to the testing? Could use force, simply corral them with swatbots, but the resulting difficulties are probably more trouble than it's worth. I need their cooperation if I can get it, particularly for tests that primarily involve them working with machines to demonstrate strength, speed, endurance. The immune system tests are easy enough to do with or without cooperation, not that I could ever get them to agree to let me inject them with infectious diseases anyway, although that always gives more accurate results than the antibodies do when separated from their host and faced with a virus in artificial environments. However, they're also less important. I can simply test everyone in succession until I get that. It's the rarer, Chaos based genes as well as the enhanced physique that I need, and those take too much time and manipulation for me to work with less than perfect specimens. I need to find a way to narrow the field.

May 11:

I know how to get them to come to me. I'll introduce a disease to the local population surreptitiously, then offer to cure them. The trick is finding something bad enough to get their attention, but not so dangerous that I risk killing my test subjects. I've run through what's easily available and my options are basically limited to several strains of influenza. I have a few sample strains in lab cultures; I just need to isolate the best one for the job. Of course, influenza being what it is I won't be able to cure it, but I can relieve the symptoms, which should be enough to convince them. Then, how to spread it? Water supply isn't terribly feasible, streams would sweep sample away. Going into town or giving it to a host dokan somehow will connect it to me…

May 13:

Deposited anonymous bundles of infected rags on some of the fishing boats in the middle of the night. With luck, a substantial portion of the population should be infected within two weeks.

May 18:

So far, so good. The infection is spreading rapidly. I need to make an appearance soon to explain how I know about the epidemic when I offer to cure it, better yet, if I contract it myself it should completely allay suspicion. This particular strain isn't terribly dangerous, and while it will certainly be unpleasant, the combative medication should relieve the worst of the symptoms. In the meantime, I also need a plausible motive for my visit, although telling them I want their participation in a study should suffice for that. The best, most plausible stories are usually the ones closest to the truth.

May 21:

Angel Island has shifted position significantly in the past several weeks. Knuckles claims it's natural and that he has no control over the direction, but it's moving towards my facilities in the southern islands. Moreover, lately he's been asking whether I know anything about the whereabouts of a group he calls the Chaotix. Apparently they left sometime in late March, around the time Nykan took Castle Acorn and should have returned weeks ago. Furthermore, Knuckles' description of their craft roughly matches the one Nykan shot down just before he took Castle Acorn. I can't press for too many details without looking suspicious and hence can't be sure it's one and the same, but there's a strong possibility that it is.

May 27:

The plan could not have worked better. Well, that's not strictly true, there's no such thing as a plan working perfectly, but it certainly worked better than could reasonably have been expected. A few of the local dokan are rather dubious about my help, but for the most part they've all been very cooperative. I have DNA and immune system samples from nearly every subject and a large number signed up for my further studies. The pamphlets were a good idea. As father always said, it's not enough to have a good product; you have to have good marketing to sell it. I'm hoping that after the first batch of test subjects participate in the study they'll convince friends and neighbors to join my "Study on genetic adaptations in relation to Chaos Emeralds, particularly as the effects apply to immune systems and longevity". I should look into offering some sort of incentive. Money isn't much good here, and it's not like they have a use for a blender when the only buildings with electricity are a couple of communal ones powered by solar panels. I'll have to think about it. Of course, failing all that I can simply corral them, but that's a last resort.

June 1:

The testing has produced some phenomenal results. All subjects performed at least 10 to 15 percent better on physical fitness tests than recorded averages. Even after accounting for possible factors for increased performance such as better diet and agrarian lifestyle that's still a significant percentage. That's important in and of itself, but it pales in comparison to the anomalies. Two of the subjects, subject 22, an armadillo named Mighty and Subject 27, a hedgehog named Sonic, both display physical abilities so far outside physical parameters I'm having difficulty believing my machinery is accurate even after personally triple checking it. Mighty easily lifted the heaviest weights I had available, some 15 times his bodyweight, and Sonic pushed my fastest treadmill to its limit running backwards and carrying on a conversation. I didn't have the appropriate equipment on hand, but running backwards he's capable of going at least 50 miles per hour, and twice that or more running forwards. They're in a completely different class from normal dokan, possibly approaching Project Shadow's capabilities. However, those are so far beyond normal that the machines I currently have available couldn't begin to measure them, so perhaps not. Still, that was after intensive genetic enhancement. These are the base specimens. As far as I can tell, grandfather was working with a relatively normal hedgehog. Almost all mention of the base specimen from which the clone was produced is missing. A couple of passages hint that it was possessed of exceptional physical abilities, but I don't think it was anything quite so extraordinary as what I have here. In any event, I want to observe proximity to the Chaos Emeralds affects the subjects' performance. Subject 22 and 27 in particular, but the entire study group as well. As Grandfather noted, plants seem to grow faster, larger, and healthier when in close proximity to a Chaos Emerald. I want to determine if I can observe a similar phenomenon with dokan. The difficulty is dokan won't sit still for days, and I have no clear idea what the radius of effect is. Establishing a control group will be difficult.

June 15:

After two weeks, I've noticed a significant link between performance and the amount of time spent in proximity to the emerald. For most of the subjects they're marginally above expected results based on initial performance and exercise due to the tests themselves, with a rough line approximately relating subjects with most time spent near emerald to most improved performance as well as best overall performance, with subjects spending less time near emerald performing poorer in rough relation. What's interesting though is the anomalies. Both Mighty and Sonic seem to perform better, as expected, although they're difficult to measure. I finally got a speedometer meant for Extreme Gear and formula cars for Sonic, and that's mostly taken care of the problem as long as I'm measuring linear movement. As I suspected, he's capable of speeds well over one hundred miles per hour. On a slightly less high priority note, a small number of other subjects experienced dramatic increases in performance, ranging from 29 to 57 percent. Although they're still far below Sonic and Mighty, these subjects also merit closer attention. Of the five, the fox cub with the second tail and the flying squirrel had the most pronounced statistical difference. Another interesting note, some of the subjects appear able to "absorb" the Rings. This ability appears to be restricted to the ones with the most dramatic reactions to the emeralds. It appears to give the subjects a slight energy boost, increasing production of endorphins and so forth, but other than that I can't determine any abnormal effects. Nor can I determine how or why some of them are, while most of the subjects, and myself, seem able to handle them but unable to do anything else with them. It may have something to do with the properties of the rings themselves. They appear to have no mass, floating at a fixed point in mid air. They can be moved, but retain no momentum, and as near as I can measure are essentially solidified chaos energy. They seem to be a byproduct of emerald reactions, certainly, and do give off a faint energy signature.

June 17:

A most interesting accident occurred today. I was tweaking an experimental prototype engine in the Atlas line, hoping to get a little more performance out of codename: Death Egg, which is nearly operational, though still some time from completion. An improperly coupled connection resulted in a feedback loop. I managed to get behind the blast barrier before it blew out the engine, but it caused a very strange reaction in the emerald. The best I can describe it is "agitated" The emerald glowed blinding bright for several hours and put off an incredible amount of energy. Drove the counters crazy, needles spinning like mad. Afterwards it subsided to a very muted, almost gray color and the energy spike dropped to almost nothing before returning to normal. More importantly, though, a plant that I happened to be in a room nearby experienced an incredible growth spurt, knocking over a computer console, and the lab was flooded with Rings, although these are starting to disappear. I want to see if I can repeat the event, and if it has any effect on the subjects, particularly the anomalous ones.

June 20:

The results of the experiment are unbelievable. Most of the subjects did display boosts in endorphins and an increased white blood cell count, but subjects 22 and 27 have reacted in a way I could never have predicted in my wildest dreams. Sonic's speed more than tripled, and he seems to get faster every day. Although he's having difficulty controlling it now, his reflexes seem to be improving to match, and he's come out of crashes that would kill any human and most dokan with a bruise and a grin. His shoes have been torn to shreds by the friction, and the first few prototype friction resistant rubber sneakers have melted after a few hours. The trick is designing something that will give him traction without being destroyed. Mighty's strength meanwhile has increased tenfold. I've seen him lift junk machinery weigh several tons above his head. Meanwhile, the anomalous fox cub and squirrel have experienced a second, dramatic physical boost.

June 23:

I've moved Mighty and Sonic, and the other two subjects to the facility on the moving island for closer study after gutting significant portions of the redundant machinery to make room for obstacle courses, living quarters and the like. I'm retaining several other subjects at the main facility for now, but I think these four are my ticket. Finally designed a pair of sneakers that Sonic doesn't destroy in a matter of hours. Still, the design needs more tweaking, what I have now won't last more than a few days the way he abuses them. I've observed him running well in excess of six hundred miles per hour now, on walls, on the ceiling, and he's still getting faster. At this rate he'll break the sound barrier soon, as project Shadow was reported to be able to do with the help of Grandfather's hover shoes. Speaking of which, Sonic could compete in, and win, even, the Dokan Ultimate Speed Class Extreme Gear Grand Prix on foot now. I believe he could run on water if he tried, although I won't tell him that, as I want to keep him on the island. I've given them all freedom to roam during the day except when scheduled for testing. Need to keep my golden gooses content and cooperative, but I also need to keep them close.

June 28:

Some of the locals are getting a bit testy about the retained subjects. I allowed the ones at the main facility to go home, I have no need for them, and no need for conflict right now, but they're demanding the return of the four at my other facility. I might let the squirrel and fox go, but I need Mighty and Sonic still.

June 30:

Sonic's ability to manage his speed has improved dramatically. He navigates each obstacle course expertly, though I've had to start making the walls and ceiling part of the course to prevent him bypassing obstacles by running on walls. Even so, he sidesteps or jumps over anything in his way even when running nearly full speed, and has demonstrated the promising ability to break through a solid concrete wall several feet thick by jump curling from a running start. I've started making robot sparring partners for him, but he demolishes every one in minutes, if not seconds. So far, the solid steel walls seem to stop him, but he's left some sizable dents in them, without coming out too much the worse for wear from it. Grandfather would be proud. Sonic's not quite testing at Project Shadow level, but he's amazingly close. Imagine if I could make an army of these creatures. The only problem is that he and Mighty appear to be mutants. I need to isolate the genes that resulted in the super speed mutation, particularly the secondary one, as well as the super strength mutation.

July 1:

An assault was made on the vacated facility today. It didn't amount to much, a few fires set, a lot of smaller machinery knocked over and broken. A lot of superficial damage, but nothing structural. They mainly focused on what was visible and left a lot of the inside alone. The dokan are clearly done tolerating my presence. This was meant as a warning, and perhaps as a moral booster for themselves before they made their big threat. Either I return the captured children, or they take them by force. Well, I'm not going to let that happen. It's time to stop being the good neighbor and have my robots round them all up, maybe execute the ring leaders. Still, I'll pretend to go along at first and wait until they make the first move, so I can cite provocation.

July 5:

Intercepted a party headed for my island. Detained them in the facility they attacked and damaged earlier. Will begin roundup tomorrow. Sonic broke the sound barrier today, unexpected sonic boom broke the testing equipment. Should have been prepared for that. I did, however, manage to make shoes that can withstand the punishment he puts them through. Red and white sneakers at his insistence. Should last him at least a month. Think with a little more tweaking I could make a virtually indestructible pair.

July 6:

Captured approximately 40 individuals, the remainder have escaped and hidden. Whether they have some agreed upon fallback point, or whether they're scattered in the jungles and caves, I don't know. I suspect some are organized, most are not. Eventually they'll need to forage for supplies, get careless, or attempt a prison break. I'll capture them then. Meanwhile, I'll put some pressure on them with bot patrols. Generic enforcer types mostly, but I have a few odd units designed for demolition, excavation, deforestation, etc which I'll use to try to flush them out. Right now Sonic and Mighty and the other two suspect nothing, but they're getting antsy. I can't keep them in the dark forever, but I should be able to do it long enough to get what I want out of them. I'll worry about what to do with them later.


End file.
